Memory Lane Isn't Paved With Hay
by ErinM
Summary: There are times when the past needs to stay in the past. This was one of those times. post-series


**Title:** Memory Lane Isn't Paved With Hay  
**Author:** Erin  
**Characters:** DG, Az, Cain, Glitch and Raw (mention of an OC)  
**Rating:** PG (for some blood)  
**Summary:** There are times when the past needs to stay in the past. This was one of those times.  
**Warning:** post-series  
**Disclaimer:** The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The situation belongs to my grandmother. Well, without Cain. Because we'd bring new meaning to the term _family feud_. o.O

"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this," Az said, ignoring the rolled eyes she knew her sister was giving her. DG climbed up the ladder to the hay loft as Az grimaced. Who knew when the last time was that someone had performed maintenance on the rickety old thing.

"Really, Deej-"

"Oh, come on," DG said as she hauled herself up through the small opening and turned to look down to her sister through the hole. "I've done this a hundred times." Sighing, DG gave Az a sharp nod and raised an eyebrow. "You comin'?"

Az shot an 'are you crazy' look to her little sister and crossed her arms in defiance. "You're gonna hurt yourself." DG waved a hand and pulled back from the opening. Az looked up to the loft and stepped back as she saw DG walking around on the upper level, inspecting the interior of the building from her higher vantage point.

Judging the span, DG noted that the barn was roughly the size of the Cooper's barn back in Kansas. 'Nothin' but net,' she thought, remembering the last time she and Ryan had been in the barn. She took a moment to lean over the edge and glance down at the various farming apparatus currently being stored within the structure.

"When did they stop tending to the fields, anyway?" DG asked, her hands resting on her hips and she frowned at the sight of the thresher, which probably hadn't seen the field outside in a dozen years. "I mean, food doesn't just magically appear on trees." DG blinked. After all, who knew in the Outer Zone?

"Right?" she asked, cocking her head in Az's direction.

"Deej, really. Please don't do this." Az had also noticed the thresher. DG, however, chose not to hear her sister's request. She stepped away from the edge and glanced up at the bale hook. Of course, the last time, it'd been mid-season and the barn was loaded with hay.

Ignoring the little voice in the back of her mind – the one that sounded like Wyatt Cain – that said this was a _really_ bad idea, DG took a deep breath and reached for the hook. She gave the metal a hard jerk and glanced up at the pulley as she tugged a second time. Pulling the hook toward herself, DG nodded, satisfied that the wheels were moving freely.

Taking another glance across the space, DG ran the numbers and nodded, concurring with her original assessment of the distance. Tilting her head side to side, DG took another deep breath and tightened her grip around the hook. Az held her breath as DG stepped back from her line of sight.

This was a _very_ bad idea.

A moment later, Az winced as she saw DG rush the edge and lift her feet up. The bale hook rolled along the cable and DG flew across the open space, over the equipment and then Az. Az twisted around as DG passed over her and landed with a thump on the small platform on the opposite side of the barn.

"Okay. It's out of your system. Now, please, can we go?" Az didn't want to be inside the barn anymore, and _really_ didn't want to listen to the speech from Cain when he realized the girls had slipped away.

They'd gone outside the city for the morning; Mother's allowance, as the girls had been working diligently on princess lessons and behaving themselves in a manner expected of them. Glitch – or was it Ambrose? – had suggested a picnic; Raw was happy to be out of the city and away from all the voices; Cain was... well... Cain.

As DG flew back across the barn, Az sighed deeply and frowned. She was curious as to how Cain hadn't noticed them walk away; or did he notice, and just didn't care? Az glanced up as DG's head appeared over the side again.

"You sure you don't want a turn?" Az reared back slightly and gave her sister a dirty look. DG shrugged and disappeared again. Az rolled her eyes as DG flew overhead once more and thumped to the platform.

"Please, Deej. Can we just go back?" Az asked with a slight whine.

"One more, Az. I'm walkin' down memory lane, here," Az heard from overhead. As DG zipped along the line once more, Az glanced over her shoulder, fully expecting to see an angry Wyatt Cain in the doorway. A thunderous cracking sound caused her to whip back and look straight up.

As her eyes darted around the upper part of the barn, Az's eyes went wide as she saw DG hanging from the upper platform. She heard DG gasp for air and dashed between the abandoned equipment, working her way to where the floorboards had given way.

"DG!" Az yelled. DG's eyes were closed as she breathed heavily – Az could see the streak of red trickling down the side of DG's face. Her arm seemed to have been injured as well, as the bluish-green sleeve of her dress was stained red.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," DG gasped, wincing in pain. As another floorboard snapped, DG shifted and screamed as the pain ripped through her. Taking a few deep breaths, she reached blindly for her back and found the problem: the waist of her dress was caught on a large nail. Unfortunately, it was also digging into her side and DG was sure it had punctured some organ she may need down the road.

Another creak of the floorboards drew Az's attention down to her level; specifically the thresher, the blades of which were situated just under DG's current position. Az didn't have to know much about farming to know that, no matter how long the machine had been stored there, if any more of the platform gave, there'd be far more of DG to go around.

Panic set in and Az scrambled up the ladder as fast as she could. She crawled across the floorboards toward DG and was halfway across when her fear of heights kicked in. She had never liked heights. Ever. Then the witch had to go and build her damn tower and stand on the balconies for hours at end.

"Deej," she breathed. "I don't know what to- I can't reach-" She'd felt the floorboard go spongy. DG was _right_ there, but if Az put any weight on the board, they'd both go through. "Give me you hand, Deej," she ordered, knowing that DG wouldn't be able to reach her hand back, unless she was able to somehow dislocate her arm from its socket.

"I'm tellin' you... I _heard_ somethin'," they both heard from below.

"Up here!" Az yelled. Glitch and Cain glanced up as Raw pointed to where DG was sticking through the floor. Glitch squeaked as Raw moved toward the hole. Cain was halfway up the ladder, completely aware of the thresher and its current position, when the floorboards cracked again.

Az cried in terror and reached for DG, who was still trying to shift away from the nail. Glitch started throwing the items piled around the thresher off to the side, hoping to get close enough that he could either get on top of the machine to reach for DG, or to figure out how to move the thing.

Az yelped as she felt a hand grasp her ankle and slide her backwards across the platform. Cain crawled over her and moved along the far side of the platform, against the wall. His brain was running a hundred ways at once, taking in every imperfection of the wood; angles, probabilities and the simple force of gravity.

"What in the name of-" he grumbled as he got to the edge of the hole and leaned over to look down at the machine under DG. Glancing back up, Cain caught sight of the bale hook and sighed. For a split second, he remembered riding one of those back and forth for hours at a time, letting go in the middle and falling into a mound of hay.

"All right, kid. Talk to me," Cain ordered, already knowing exactly what had happened. But, hearing DG would mean that she was conscious, and that was all he needed at the moment. She turned her head to face him and Cain frowned as he saw the streak of red running from her hairline and now staining the collar of her dress. He also noticed that she was looking rather pale.

"Didn't quite nail the landing," she said with a laugh, thinking of the nail digging into her side. Cringing, DG closed her eyes as the stab of pain rushed through her. She felt Cain's arm on hers and involuntarily twisted toward him.

"Don't-" Cain said sharply. "Just stay still, Princess. I have to figure out how to unhook you there," he said with a nod to the large nail. "Without having you fall down there," he said, next nodding to the thresher below. "Hey!" he shouted a second later.

DG's head jerked up and her eyes opened. With a sigh, she mumbled: "Ah... stupid idiot strikes again."

"Hey, let's worry about punishment once we get you outta this mess, all right?" he asked sternly. DG couldn't bnot/b laugh. Only Wyatt Cain would be calm in a life-threatening situation, yet still threaten a good lashing later.

Cain glanced over his shoulder to see Raw's head sticking through the hole behind them, pulling Az toward the ladder. Turning back to DG, he looked down to where Glitch had managed to get on top of the thresher, but was too far away to reach DG. Taking a moment to run the numbers, Cain took a deep breath, said a silent prayer and leaned toward DG.

"Okay, kid. We're gonna do this on three, and it's gonna hurt like Hell." DG nodded and took a few shallow breaths as Cain hooked his arm around hers and reached for the nail. "One," he said loudly, for the benefit of the others, as well. "Two..." His arm tightened around DG's and she heard a tearing sound as he whispered: "Three."

Everyone's breath caught as the rest of the platform around DG gave way and went crashing down onto the thresher. Glitch fell back and Raw stepped in front of Az as the pieces of wood bounced off the machine and ground. The three of them looked at each other, then up to the platform, where Cain and DG were sitting against the barn wall, arms wrapped around each other tightly.

DG winced as she tried to shift her weight and sit up; Cain's hand pressed over the gash in her back where the nail had been and he gingerly checked the wound on her head. "I gotcha, Princess," he said with a sigh. "I gotcha."

"Next time you wanna walk down memory lane," Az shouted up with a rather angry look on her face. "Use the sidewalk!"

DG breathed a laugh and turned her head into Cain's chest. "Ow..." she laughed again.


End file.
